Commanding Officer
by Lexie Jayne
Summary: Jondy realises that all her siblings have funny ways of dealing with their 'Manticore Days'.


Commanding Officer  
  
AN: My sister wanted me to write this - Our neighbors have a white fluffy cat named Jack who practically lives at out house. My sister suggested the concept of Zack owning a cat.  
  
Disclaimer: I own the idea of Brin and Zane hooking up and the characterization of Jondy, Zane, Syl and Krit. Jack is the neighbor's cat, so I don't own him.  
  
Spoilers: Um, Pollo Loco, Meow, AJBAC, The Kidz Are Aiight and the one with Brin.  
  
Feedback and Distribution: I'd love some constructive criticism for this – just to make it better. Don't flame, they make me cry ;) Take it for any site, just let me know the URL. Uh, fanfiction.net, my sites and wherever I let it free.  
  
*********  
  
Everyday I think I learn something new about my siblings. A new, weirdo, quirky habit they've picked up since leaving Manticore. I must have one or two, but some of my siblings are truly odd.  
  
Zane has a dog fetish. He's got two at the moment – Millie and Sasha, both German Shepherds. In Zane's little world, Millie and Sasha are his top priorities. Especially since Brin left – Zane and Brin were very close.  
  
Tinga collects Barbie dolls – the expensive ones in the fancy boxes that cost three months rent. They sit in a display cabinet in her and Charlie's home. Zack told me that these stupid dolls have almost got Tinga caught on one occasion.  
  
Ben had an obsession with the Blue Lady – Bibles, crucifix necklaces, everything that involved her. It was very creepy, actually.  
  
Krit collects comic books and cartoon boxer shorts. He has a ridiculously large collection of them, and it has gotten him caught once, and saved by an extremely pissed off Zack.  
  
Syl? Well, Syl likes those fancy knives, which sometimes makes me wonder what her and Krit actually get up to. And she likes teddy bears. She only has five, which makes her a saint in Zack's eyes. Five teddies and a collection of stolen knives is far better in Zack's eyes than 289 pairs of cartoon boxer shorts or 27 of Tinga's expensive Barbie dolls.  
  
I asked Syl once what my funny quirk was and she replied, "You, Jondy? Well, your writing and drawing. And dying your hair. And the tattoos."  
  
"But Zane got tattoos and Brin used to dye her hair."  
  
"Maybe you're the only one not screwed up by Manticore, Jon. I'm sorry, I just don't notice these things."  
  
Poor Brin, I forgot her didn't I? Well, Brin was an artist. I sketch in my spare time, yeah, but Brin was good at it. Excellent in fact.  
  
So, I bet your wondering exactly where I'm going with this. Syl says that even when I write I babble. So, I'll make my point. Well, sort of.  
  
I can tell you Maxie's funny quirk even though I haven't seen her in ten years. She has the desire to be normal – hence why she won't leave Seattle (I got it out of Zack after he visited her, after making me swear I wouldn't visit her.)  
  
Zack? Man, I've spent more time with him than the others have combined. And I couldn't work out how Manticore screwed him up- well, other than the obsessive-compulsive control freakish nature that came with being CO.  
  
It was after I, um, accidentally blew up my flat and Lydecker was onto me. Zack got me out of town but I had to stay with him for awhile – Zack has a flat in Boston.  
  
  
  
So, we went to this flat. Zack looking completely normal, me covered in henna tattoos or, in three exceptions, real tattoos (everyone forgets I actually have real tattoos. Zane calls me a wuss for only having henna, damn him) and my red and black hair, clutching my notebook like a teddy bear.  
  
So we go up, into this nice block of flats, and I'm beginning to wonder if Zack is completely well adjusted and its just us other X5s that are freaks of nature and need some weird obsession to make us feel safe.  
  
But the gods smiled on me, as Zack opened the door to his flat. I noticed it was barracks-clean – everything was put away and neat, unlike my flat that was cluttered of old magazines and my clothes. And sitting on the lounge, waiting for Zack was the prettiest, fluffiest white cat this side of Egypt (cats…Egypt…oh, never mind!)  
  
"Hey Jack," Zack says, reaching down and picking up the cat.  
  
"Jack? It's a boy?" I asked stupidly. It was such a pretty little cat.  
  
"Yes. Jack is traditionally a guys name, Jondy," Zack said testily, stroking the cat's head.  
  
"Okay – I'm just gonna…"  
  
"Guest room second door on the right," Zack instructed. "Bathroom adjacent."  
  
I tried hard not to laugh at the sight of Zack petting a cat until I was locked in the bathroom.  
  
When I was composed enough to head back out and actually keep a straight face, I found Jack perched on the kitchen bench, eating from a bowl, while Zack ordered pizza.  
  
I stayed in the shadows and watched as Zack hung up the phone and began to talk to Jack about the others and how he worried about me.  
  
"Good to know you worry about me," I laughed, stepping into the kitchen.  
  
Zack turned to face me. "Of course I worry about you Jondy. I worry about all of us, but you…" He shrugged. "You're off in the clouds 99% of the week, Dee, and with your writing…"  
  
Krit made the same point only a little while ago. "You, Jondy? I can be chatting away to you and suddenly you'll start scribbling in your notebook as fast as you can, forgetting everyone else. Sometimes I feel you are the baby sister."  
  
I shrugged. "I know more than you think."  
  
Zack nodded. "I thought you would. The others are always whinging you come around and sit around doing nothing except writing, but…"  
  
"Keep your mouth shut and your ears open," I agreed.  
  
Zack handed me a glass of wine – he knows I love the stuff, but can't afford it. We sit on the couch, me holding my sketchbook and notebook.  
  
"Tell me about the others," Zack asked, as Jack leapt into his lap.  
  
I flipped open my sketchbook and began drawing Zack and Jack. "Well, you know about the Barbies and the boxers and the decorative knives?"  
  
"Yeah, though I didn't think you did."  
  
"Well, Krit has a pet rabbit named Syl and Syl has a guinea pig named Krit," I said. "They gave them to little kids when you finally let them live together. Maxie works for Eyes Only and they aren't a couple, but Maxie would like to be. Tinga can't sleep some nights because her bed is too soft and Zane cries at night for Brin."  
  
Zack looked at me. "How do you…?"  
  
"I listen and I watch. When I stay over, I crash on their couches and when they can't sleep, I hear them. And I've heard you talk about Maxie long enough to know what her deal is."  
  
Jack is purring now.  
  
"Zane loved Brin in a none brother-sister sense," Zack said, closing his eyes. "I remember the day I told him she was back at Manticore. He was depressed – you think Ben is bad, Zane almost went the same way. I had to send him off with Tinga for awhile."  
  
I nodded. "I want to get her out, Zack. I hate knowing one of my sibs is suffering."  
  
"I know. I'm just scared Brin is dead and X5-734 is back. Sometimes I think it would be easier if Zane just hoped Brin was all right incase…" The doorbell rings and Zack gets up for our pizza.  
  
We sit and talk on the lounge and Zack indulgently feeds Jack some of the pizza.  
  
"How did Manticore screw me up, Zack?" I asked, putting the finishing touches on the sketch of Zack and Jack the cat.  
  
"Hmm…maybe the way you write down everything you find out about your siblings – you didn't really know them until now and you feel you have to remember every detail of their lives to make up the time you weren't around."  
  
I nodded, pleased with the answer.  
  
"I'm going to crash, Jon. I'll see you in the morning."  
  
I didn't crash for awhile and when I did get up, I peeked into Zack's room. Surprised.  
  
Several pictures of us hung around the room – Syl aged 11, Krit aged 15, me aged 12, Zane and Brin aged 20…as if to remind him of the good he'd done. And there was Jack, curled up on the other pillow.  
  
I never got a chance to ask Zack where he got Jack…I mean, the corny rhyming name thing so wasn't Zack's idea of cute.  
  
Syl called when Zack and Maxie died in the raid on Manticore, and I didn't cry. I went and got my car and drove to NYC. I went to Zack's flat and went inside.  
  
The white cat was napping on the couch, no worries in the world. I didn't wake the cat; I went into Zack's room.  
  
The pictures smiled down from the walls, as I sat cross-legged on the bed. I noticed four new pictures – one of Maxie on a motorcycle, one of Jace and a baby, one of Tinga's son Case and a sketch of Zack and Jack. My sketch.  
  
I hadn't realized I left it behind until I went to show Syl and Krit. They told me I was delusional. Zack with a pet? As if.  
  
So, we all have weaknesses now. A funny obsession or quirk. Something that makes us different to each other.  
  
Zane and I live together in Zack's flat now, as siblings. Jack the cat is still around, always waiting for Zack to come through the door.  
  
It was pretty obvious to all involved that Zack and I were closer than just siblings were. I continually told them we weren't romantic, but everyone disagreed – after all, how could I have gotten away with so much? Knowing the locations of every X5, including Maxie? Knowing that Zack had a cat? Knowing every little detail about all of my siblings? Zack indulged me like he indulged Jack.  
  
Zane just leant over my shoulder and told me to add in about Tinga's Barbies. Now she's dead…well, I got them. Still in the display case, in the corner of the lounge room. Millie and Sasha are sleeping on Zane's bed; Jack curled up on the kitchen counter.  
  
Now that Zack's gone, well, I gotta look out for my siblings. Because when a CO dies, the SIC takes his place. And I guess, for all my dreaming and writing, I'm the best person for the job.  
  
Jack sleeps on my pillow at night, surrounded by pictures of us, all happy. And if in the middle of the night, Jack goes looking for Zack in the streets of NYC, I go with him. We're all cats by nature, Jack more so than me or Zane or Krit or Syl.  
  
I look out for him cause he's family. 


End file.
